FROM THE BOARD 



2005 A Year to Remember. . . 



BY BRETT ANDRUS 



The long cold winter brought 

 the hope of nourishing spring 

 rains, and yes were they ever so 

 nourishing. In 25 years I have never 

 seen the rains last so long. The weath- 

 ermen talked about a high pressure 

 here and stalled fronts over there. I 

 couldn't figure it all out. Then one 

 Sundav afternoon in May as the heav- 

 ens opened up once again, I discov- 

 ered the answer. One of my young 

 employees said the bad weather must 

 be all my fault. I must have had bad 

 thoughts and God sent his wrath. I 

 couldn't think of what I had done, but 

 to get this much rain it must have been 

 pretty severe. 



Then, later in the spring I must have 

 been forgiven, the sun came back. We 

 were all hopeful of re-cooping some 

 of our lost spring sales. Things were 

 looking prett\- good, until the feared 

 three letter word came. OIL. Yes they 

 said, prices would rise beyond belief. 

 So I started to itemize how much our 

 industn.' depends on petroleum. I real- 

 ized such things as poly for our green- 

 houses, pots and tags for our plants, 

 even products we use in aiding the 

 health of our crops are all in some 

 way linked to petroleum. My wish 

 list was getting smaller by the day. I 

 looked at my once proud fleet of golf 

 carts, now just mere skeletons of what 

 they once were, and whispered a plea 

 for just one more year, I need to put 

 oil in the tanks this winter. 



NHPGA sponsored a golf tournament In 

 September to benefit the NH Horticul- 

 tural Endowment. 



Then one night just before I was 

 about to call Dr. Phil, I heard good 

 news on the TV. They said the big 

 three in Detroit had lowered earnings 

 for the third quarter One reason being 

 low sales of their SUV's. Who would 

 have thought that gas hungr\' vehicles 

 and high gas prices don't mix? They 

 will start dumping these cars quicker 

 than Fen\\a\ Park laid sod after the 

 Stones Concert. Somehow car manu- 

 facturers forgot about the 1970's. 



Now you ask, "Where is this lead- 

 ing?" Unlike so many industries in 

 this country- who think the sun w ill al- 

 ways shine, we have built a horticul- 

 tural industry that realizes rain always 

 comes along at some point. Adver- 



sit\' has taught us how to manage our 

 businesses through good times and 

 bad. We are constantly making modi- 

 fications. We strive to grow our crops 

 more productively and put our labor 

 force to its best use. We arrange dis- 

 plays for maximum results, and target 

 advertising to the proper market. It all 

 boils down to one thing people say is 

 dead, common sense. Our industry 

 has a bountifijl supph: sometliing the 

 top three in Detroit ma\' want to take 

 a look at. The great love of plants has 

 been around longer than SUV's. This 

 passion for plants will stand the test 

 of time no matter what our customers 

 maybe driving into our parking lots 

 in the future. Yes, adversity may have 

 taken a bite this \ear. but we know 

 we don't have to react to it. We will 

 just live with it everyday and adjust 

 as needed. 



So to does the board of the NHP- 

 GA use common sense for the direc- 

 tion of our membership. The dues that 

 you send in ever year are ever so im- 

 portant, but that is only the first step. 

 Your voices in letting us know what 

 direction you would like to see us go 

 is vital. Remember you are not just 

 a member, but you are the NHPGA. 

 Someone once told me life is like an 

 Irish bar fight. You can watch, or join 

 in and participate. Well folks, the bar 

 is open and the beer is cold. Don't 

 hesitate to throw the first punch. I'll 

 still buy you a pint afterwards. 



WINTER 2005 



